DeAndre Hopkins released by Cardinals wants to play with Eagles’ Jalen Hurts

[VaBeach_Eagle]

 

DeAndre Hopkins — released by Cardinals — wants to play with Eagles’ Jalen Hurts

Published: May. 26, 2023, 1:29 p.m.

By Kevin Manahan | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com

Quote

DeAndre Hopkins — released Friday by the Arizona Cardinals — has a wish list for his next team, and it sounds a lot like the Philadelphia Eagles, the defending NFC champions.

"What I want is stable management upstairs. I think that’s something I haven’t really had the past couple years of my career coming from Houston and then to Arizona,” Hopkins said on a recent podcast. "I’ve been through three or four GMs in my career, so a stable management. A QB who loves the game, a QB who brings everybody on board with him and pushes not just himself but everybody around him.

"And a great defense. A great defense wins championships.”

For weeks before the NFL Draft, rumors swirled that Hopkins would be traded, but the deal never came. He pledged his allegiance to the Cardinals last month, but then started talking like he’d rather not go back. He made his latest comments on the "I AM ATHLETE” podcast.

On Friday, he got his wish.

While praising Ravens’ Lamar Jackson, Hopkins listed the other quarterbacks he’d love to play with: Josh Allen, Jalen Hurts, Patrick Mahomes and Justin Herbert.

"I love Lamar Jackson. Lamar Jackson is one of my favorite athletes since I’ve been watching sports,” Hopkins said. "Obviously he’s one of the greats, and I would be lying to sit here and say it wouldn’t be an honor one day, if my career allows me to play that long, to play with a great guy and a great quarterback like Lamar.”

The Eagles, who shocked the league by trading for A.J. Brown before last season’s Super Bowl run, likely would have trouble finding touches for Hopkins in a stacked offense that also includes wide receiver DeVonta Smith, tight end Dallas Goedert and running backs D’Andre Swift and Rashaad Penny.

But while the Eagles check all of Hopkins’ boxes, maybe the Giants are a better fit.

Hopkins, who turns 31 in June, has two years left on his contract, with a $30.7 million salary cap number coming this season if he remains in Arizona. There’s a chance a team won’t have to give up a first-round draft pick for him, and he’s likely not worth that price as he enters Year 11.

Pro Football Focus proposed a Hopkins-to-Giants trade that involved giving up a second-round pick and fifth-rounder.

 

https://www.nj.com/sports/2023/05/deandre-hopkins-released-by-cardinals-wants-to-play-with-eagles-jalen-hurts.html